Completed December 2021
Waterford West is a suburb in the City of Logan, Queensland. It’s home to Waterford West State Primary School, which has over 600 students from Prep through to Year 6, where 12 per cent of the students have an Indigenous background and 32 per cent have a language background other than English.
This school is the first Queensland recipient of a Food Ladder hydroponic greenhouse system, an initiative made possible thanks to the support of leading non-bank lender Resimac. The system will teach the students about horticulture, food security and nutrition.
In December 2021, the greenhouse at Waterford West was complete, and we had a launch event at the school with parents, Resimac representatives Susan Hansen and Janelle Packman, and Deputy Mayor John Raven from the Logan City Council
Resimac will be working with Food Ladder to implement the greenhouse systems in two more schools across Perth and Sydney in 2022.
Progress since completion
Since the greenhouse’s completion in December 2021, Waterford West School have had 4 successful harvests. The system has been incorporated into the year 5 curriculum and the students are in charged with running and looking after the greenhouse.
The school tuckshop is utilising the fresh produce in the lunches they offer, providing a complete paddock-to-plate experience for the students. The students favourite lunch is burgers with their hand grown iceberg lettuce, although they are not big fans of bitter rocket!
The students have focused on growing leafy greens, specifically lettuces, rocket, mint and choy. The harvests are eaten by the students, used in cooking classes and the tukshop, as well as donated to families, and others in need. The school have committed to rolling harvests, successfully have a supply of leafy greens all year round!
We look forward to another successful term ahead for Waterford West School.
Food Ladder acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which this greenhouse is built, the Yuggera, Turrbal, Yugarabul, Jagera and Yugambeh peoples. We celebrate the diversity of Aboriginal peoples and their ongoing cultures and connections to the lands and waters of Queensland. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging and acknowledge the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people that contributed to the development of this resource.